Street pays tribute to Mr Benn... Do You Remember?

Growing up and perhaps after I was meant to have grown up, there were many children's puppet and cartoon characters that I used to watch on BBC or ITV, the two channels we had in the UK at that time. For any of you from the UK how about some of these...
Muffin the Mule, Tourchy, Twizzle, Andy Pandy, Wooden Tops, Flower Pot Men, Bagpuss, Fireball XL5, Stingray, Four Feather Falls, Captain Scarlet, Thunderbirds... Tales of the River Bank with the animals play their parts. The list goes on and on.

These are the sort of "can you remembers" that used to chatted about on down the pub or late at night in the kitchen at a party. The "Can you remember the animals in Rag, tag and Bobtail" type of questions.

One of the favorite picture type of children's program (before cartoons took over" was "Mr Benn". The show was first broadcast back in the 1970's, with further programs crated in 2004.
Mr Benn's adventures always began when he visited a magical fancy dress shop. The shop's changing room was a portal to another world which reflected Mr Benn's chosen costume.

Now the residents of the street that helped inspire the Mr Benn stories have clubbed together to pay tribute to the classic children's character.

Festing Road, in Putney, South London, became famous when illustrator David McKee lived there in the late 1960s and made it Mr Benn's home address. On Saturday, an engraved paving slab will be laid outside the house where McKee invented his famous cartoon.

McKee has also revealed that he is in talks about a Mr Benn movie.

Barry



BARRY EVA (Storyheart)

Author of Young Adult Romance/Fiction book